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Recently, water meters have become a must-have device in water supply networks. A water meter (water meter), like any metering device, has a strictly defined service life, during which it is necessary to regularly check the accuracy of the readings. However, it is sometimes economically unprofitable to do this, it is easier to replace the device with a new one. At the same time, the old, dismantled water meter remains fully functional, it can be used for its intended purpose without modifications, or the scope of the device can be expanded.
Modern household water meters consist of two bodies that can be easily separated from each other. One body is predominantly metal. Water flows inside it and drives the impeller into rotation. The second housing, as a rule, is made of plastic, representing a counting device. The rotational moment of the impeller is transmitted to the counter mechanism by means of a magnetic field created by the impeller's permanent magnets. Thanks to this design solution, the device is tightly sealed for a long time.
Having disconnected the counting device, you can reuse it for a wide range of tasks. In order for the counting device to start counting the number of revolutions (which is what it actually does), it is necessary to place a rotating wheel with a permanent magnet attached to it in the immediate vicinity of the lower part of its body. Turning the wheel in one direction or the other will decrease or increase the reading on the dial.
To demonstrate this, let's build a small mockup from an old CD drive chassis. Let's keep on the chassis only the motor for moving the tray and a large gear, to which we will diametrically glue a pair of permanent magnets with the same poles upward (magnetic wheel). We put the counting device on improvised U-shaped holders made of aluminum wire.
The most suitable for such use can be considered the simplest mechanical water meters, in which there are no backstops. Their counting devices can be adapted, for example, for counting the number of turns when winding transformers, the distance traveled, the engine speed, and the like.
Often, our citizens are faced with a dilemma, where to put the old electricity meter after installing a new one? Not everyone knows that it is forbidden to throw metering devices along with household waste, as they contain heavy metals that can damage the environment.
In this overview, you will be able to familiarize yourself in detail with the options for recycling electricity meters and will be able to choose the most suitable one for yourself.
In any living space, a meter is installed that calculates electricity consumption. Like any high-precision equipment, electricity meters must be checked periodically. On it, with the help of standards, the error of the readings given by the meter is revealed. If they go beyond the standard, then the device must be disposed of.
Reference! Induction electric meters and devices with a class higher than 2.0 are not accepted for verification, but must be replaced, since their accuracy class is very low. For modern devices, it varies in the range from 0.5 to 2.0.
It is necessary to replace old metering devices (PU) with new ones in the following cases:
- the service life of the old-style meter has expired;
- the device is broken or has an incorrect setting;
- scheduled work on power grids, involving the replacement of PU.
Apartment owners have a question, what to do when replacing an electric meter and where to put the old one? Installation work is carried out by electricians of a power sales company, for example, Mosenergosbyt. This is due to the fact that the meters are sealed and only a specialized company has the right to remove or install the seal. The electrician takes readings from the old meter and then installs a new electricity meter.
In this case, the old PU remains with the owner of the apartment. Experts recommend storing it for about 2-3 months, in case there are discrepancies in the transmitted readings with the accounting department of the energy sales company. After that, the electricity meter must be disposed of.
Is there anything you can do with the old electricity meter?
Most Russian citizens either store broken and dismantled electricity meters in garages, or throw them out with household waste at the nearest trash can. Both options are not correct.
It makes no sense to store out-of-order measuring devices. They will only gather dust and take up space. But you also can't throw them in the trash. The fact is that electric meters contain heavy metals: mercury, lead and chromium. In the open air and under the influence of changes in the environment (humidity, temperature fluctuations, etc.), the device quickly deforms, and the metals contained in it actively interact with the compounds of chlorine and hydrocarbons contained in the plastic case of the meter. The whole process leads to the formation of highly toxic substances that can cause irreparable damage to the environment and humans in particular.
Therefore, it is best to return the old electricity meter or dispose of it as indicated in the data sheet of the device.
Some citizens do not agree to quickly part with the dismantled PU and find a different application for them. For example, some craftsmen use an old, but working electric meter as a measuring device. That is, a socket is installed on one side, and a plug on the other. Connect the device and count its power consumption. And also some craftsmen make from old counters: piggy banks, lanterns, or disassemble the device into parts and remove the magnet (induction PU).
Where to return the old electricity meter?
Each measuring equipment, which includes electricity meters, has a technical passport. In it, the manufacturer must indicate the disposal procedure. In addition, you can find out which companies in your city accept old devices and on what conditions.
Dispose of electricity meters
Due to the fact that the disposal of electricity meters in an inappropriate manner can cause significant harm to the environment, then only specialized companies should be recycled. Such organizations must have equipment for safe disposal and permission from government agencies.
The process of recycling electricity meters itself is based on the separation of the component components of the device: capacitors, LEDs and transmitting contacts. Considering that electric meters contain a highly toxic substance - metallic mercury, companies necessarily carry out the demercurization procedure, that is, its removal by a physicochemical method. Therefore, you should not be negligent in the process of recycling electricity meters.
Sell \u200b\u200bor discard
As mentioned above, it is prohibited to dispose of meters in a landfill. Therefore, the question naturally arises, what to do with an unnecessary device? It turns out that there is little benefit to be gained from recycling. If you throw away the appliance, you get nothing from it. But in the case when you hand it over to a recycling program in specialized companies, you can get a little money for it. The fact is that electric meters contain metals that are removed in laboratory conditions and using special equipment.
It remains to decide where to turn in the old electric meter for money? To do this, you can contact your power supply company. They often have a special permit for disposal and can accept old PUs. And also metrological companies are engaged in such services, that is, those who carry out the verification of electricity meters.
From the above, we can conclude that a faulty and dismantled electric meter can bring little financial benefit if it is not just thrown away, but disposed of according to all the rules.
The old induction household electricity meters are no longer needed - they no longer provide metering accuracy and are being replaced by electronic ones. Their destiny is a garbage can or a shelf in the garage, "just in case." We will try to give a second life to the workaholic.
I propose to make a portable lamp in a durable and lightweight body of the meter.
Required materials and tools
For work, we need the following tool: a screwdriver, pliers, gimbal or drill with a drill 4 - 4.5 mm. From materials: a piece of plywood or a board, a lid from a tin can, a car headlight lamp with a connector, a wire with a plug, a switch, bolts and nuts.
Detailed job description
To do this, disassemble the counter - take out the counting mechanism. Glass, terminals and top bracket can be left on for now.
We mount a socket from an old car headlight inside. I drilled a plastic socket with a gimbal in the groove between the contacts. A thin brass strip with two holes from the interior of the meter was taken as a bracket, but you can use a similar part from a children's metal construction set. After fitting, you can choose the exact location for drilling holes in the meter body yourself, the body may differ.
A shiny tin lid from a can of condensed milk, "drilled" in the middle, perfectly suited as a reflector. Fasteners (bolts and nuts) are in abundance in the meter itself.
From the outside, we screw a handle cut from a piece of plywood or a thin board to the body. We attach a power cord to it, and, if necessary, mount a power switch on it - a toggle switch, a button. If necessary, attach a hook bent from a piece of wire to the upper bracket.
Car headlight bulbs usually have 2 coils. This will allow us to quickly connect the second spiral when the first one burns out, or use bulbs with one burned out.
Many experienced car enthusiasts have such car bulbs in stock - today incandescent lamps are “out of work” and have long been supplanted by more modern ones.
We connect the output from the lamp holder to the terminals of the meter or connect it with a twist to the supply wire. In the second case, you can get rid of the terminals by passing the wiring into the remaining holes.
Power can be provided by a small-sized electronic transformer, a conventional 12-volt "iron" transformer, a garage charger or a car wiring system. Depending on this, we equip the power cord with an appropriate plug.
The resulting lamp has its advantages:
- lightweight and durable body of almost "vandal-proof" design
- good protection against damage to the bulb
- quick connection of the backup coil
- using half burnt lamps
- has a handle that does not heat up during operation
- produces a non-dazzling compact rectangular light beam
And disadvantages:
- the case is not for the narrowest places of work
If you attach such a lamp instead of a regular reflector to a table lamp with a flexible tube, be sure that such a table lamp will not interfere with others when you sit up late reading your favorite book. To give a more aesthetic look from the case, you can cut the fixing "ears" and part of the terminal box, and decorate the case itself in any way.
The transition to a water meter system for residents of Russia is several stages of a headache. First, the installation, a whole series of checks and, as a consequence, the need to put the device completely out of order somewhere.
It should be noted right away that the passport of each such device contains information suggesting a method for its disposal. It is water meters that, as a rule, are accompanied by notes about non-toxicity, chemical or radiation safety. They are disposed of by disassembly..
Where to carry the damaged water meter or give everything to the locksmith
However, hardly anyone will hand over one or two devices. Whereas in the amount of more than ten water meters, the amount for the disassembled meters may turn out to be a little tangible, especially if the metal part consists of non-ferrous metals: alloys or pure copper.
Locksmiths are interested in this issue, for whom it is very convenient to simply give away a device that has become unusable. Today on the network you can find, addressed specifically to people of plumbing professions: I will take a water meter for scrap, expensive. At the same time, the cost can be determined per unit or weight, of the output metal - there were cases when the counters took up to 100 rubles per piece.
This approach to business partially solves the problem of the formation of debris consisting of various materials: metal, plastic, sometimes glass. Thus, the water meter can be classified as mixed waste, and therefore more difficult to recycle.
As for precious metals, then they are not in the meter - there is no platinum or other spraying - there is nothing valuable in water meters except non-ferrous metals!
It is clear that the interest of the collectors of recyclable materials is manifested primarily in the extraction of metal from the device, but there remains the need to dispose of an equally important component:.
In addition, not every water meter has a pure metal at the base of the device; its surface can be covered with paint. It is possible to hand over the metal in this form, but not the final point of processing. Traces of paint can be removed in various ways, for example, by treating metal parts with special chemical solutions, a thermal gun, or mineral-based kerosene. After that, the entire volume must be washed and dried, only then sent to the processing plant.
With plastic and other mechanical parts that make up the design of the water meter, you can do absolutely different things. The cheapest and easiest way is to recycle plastic components. There they will either be crushed and used for further production or disposed of, for example, using.
A little bit of waste fantasy
However, you can be more creative with these additional, non-metal components. Neatly various parts, subject to careful preliminary operation (without scratches, chips, cracks), they can be reused, if not for the production of new devices, then at least for the repair of already using water meters, in which the metal part is in good order, but for some reason then for reasons the plastic cover has become unusable.
There is no reliable information that the counting mechanism can be used in this way, but, however, such a situation is not excluded, provided that a new technical passport is issued to the device or the corresponding changes are made to the old one. In this case, the repaired meter will have to be checked, and even then not always.
Another creative point of using out-of-order water meters is sending them to. If the metal is sent to its intended purpose, then plastic caps, and sometimes even peculiar containers, may well serve in the circles of young creativity as a palette, for storing beads, other natural and not only material.
Here, fantasy does not limit the owners of this kind of waste. In addition, the whole device can be used as an element of urban style. An already inoperative subject can be used in physics, chemistry, and even mathematics lessons in elementary grades. Although, of course, this is a very optimistic forecast for the use of waste in the form of water meters.
Watch the video - water meter device
What to do with water meters in production?
The situation is more complicated with the decommissioned, but not utilized, water meters pre-installed at the enterprise. To comply with the formalities, it is necessary to determine the level of waste hazard: class 5 or 4. If we consider that a water meter is practically not a hazardous waste, then it does not require a passport according to it. However, if there are reasons to believe that the device belongs to the fourth group of waste, that is, low-hazard, a special document will be required to send it for disposal.
The conclusion about the class can be made on the basis of the passport of the device itself, where toxicity, radioactivity, and other moments that threaten human health or life are usually indicated. Again, for an enterprise in disputable situations, it is easier to contact an organization that will replace the old meter for an additional fee, with complete dismantling and transportation of the failed water meter.
